Not remotely. Letting go is the highest psychological hurdle in the whole sport. Some people hang about in marinas for weeks, unconsciously inventing one more workshop project after another, purely to avoid having to slip their lines. No boat was ever finished. Leaving the berth starts in the head.
By the reason. It is always practical, always plausible and always new. The pump, the forecast, the tank, the seal, the crew who can only make it next week. If you have been almost ready for three weeks, you are not working on the boat.
In Germany we call this Hafenkino — harbour cinema. It means the people on the pontoon who watch you come alongside, and who are not necessarily hoping you succeed. Berthing under observation is the most feared moment in cruising. It can still be trained, because you are not changing the audience, you are changing your […]
The start is the densest moment of the race: a great deal of information, very little time, high stakes, everyone at once. That is a textbook case for tension control and fixed routines, not for yet more practice starts.
In sailing there is no final whistle. You cannot abandon the mistake and start again, you have to sail on with it. That is exactly why processing mistakes in real time is an ability in its own right, and exactly why it can be practised.
By deliberately letting tension down and building it up again, instead of holding it high throughout. Anyone who waits three hours at full stretch has nothing left when the pressure finally comes. Waiting is a technique.
Rebuilding confidence after a fright is one of the classic doors in to us. We do not go straight back out to open sea; we build up again in steps you control yourself. Where the boundary to trauma lies is set out in G3.
That makes you the normal case, not the exception. In aviation and the merchant marine, you grow into responsibility after qualifying by serving as an officer under supervision, and only then become master. In leisure sailing, the moment the certificate is handed over you are solely responsible. That intermediate step is precisely what is missing, […]
It can be trained. Calm is not a character trait, it is a state you can produce once you know how. That is precisely the content of the work.
The same calm that gives you pleasure in fine weather saves your life in heavy weather. Every safety measure only works with a clear head. Lifejacket, harness and distress signal are worth nothing if the person in between freezes.